A coalition of Arab and Muslim nations has condemned “in the strongest terms” statements made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding his vision for a “Greater Israel”.
When interviewer Sharon Gal with the Israeli i24NEWS channel asked Netanyahu if he subscribed to a “vision” for a “Greater Israel”, Netanyahu said “absolutely”. Asked during the interview aired on Tuesday if he felt connected to the “Greater Israel” vision, Netanyahu said: “Very much.”
The “Greater Israel” concept supported by ultranationalist Israelis is understood to refer to an expansionist vision that lays claim to the occupied West Bank, Gaza, parts of Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Jordan.
“These statements represent a grave disregard for, and a blatant and dangerous violation of, the rules of international law and the foundations of stable international relations,” said a joint statement by a coalition of 31 Arab and Islamic countries and the Arab League.
“They also constitute a direct threat to Arab national security, to the sovereignty of states, and to regional and international peace and security,” the statement released on Friday said.
The signatories of the statement included the secretaries-general of the League of Arab States, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The Arab and Islamic nations also condemned Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s announcement on Thursday to push ahead with settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.
The statement said the move is “a blatant violation of international law and a flagrant assault on the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to realise their independent, sovereign state on the lines of June 4, 1967, with Occupied Jerusalem as its capital”.
The statement added that Israel has no sovereignty over occupied Palestinian territory.
Smotrich said he would approve thousands of housing units in a long-delayed illegal settlement project in the West Bank, saying the move “buries the idea of a Palestinian state”.
Last September, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) overwhelmingly adopted a resolution calling on Israel to end its illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories within 12 months.
The resolution backed an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – the UN’s top court – which found that Israel’s presence in the Palestinian territories is unlawful and must end. In January 2024, the ICJ said Israel was “plausibly committing genocide”. The top UN court has yet to announce its verdict in the case brought by South Africa.
Netanyahu and Smotrich made the remarks during Israel’s devastating 22-month war on Gaza, which has killed at least 61,827 people and wounded 155,275 people in the enclave.
Last week, Israel’s Security Cabinet approved Netanyahu’s plan to fully occupy Gaza City, and in Tuesday’s interview, Netanyahu also revived calls to “allow” Palestinians to leave Gaza, telling i24NEWS: “We are not pushing them out, but we are allowing them to leave.”
Campaigners said Netanyahu’s use of the word “leave” was a euphemism for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza – home to 2.1 million people, most of whom are refugees and their descendants from the 1948 Nakba when more than 700,000 Palestinians were forced to flee from what became the state of Israel.
Past calls to resettle people from Gaza outside the war-battered territory, including from United States President Donald Trump, have sparked fears of forced displacement among Palestinians and condemnation from the international community.
In their statement on Saturday, the Islamic countries reiterated their “rejection and condemnation of Israel’s crimes of aggression, genocide, and ethnic cleansing” in Gaza and highlighted the need for a ceasefire in the enclave while “ensuring unconditional access to humanitarian aid to halt the systematic starvation policy used by Israel as a weapon of genocide”.
They also reaffirmed their “complete and absolute rejection of the displacement of the Palestinian people in any form and under any pretext” and called on the international community to pressure Israel to halt its aggression and fully withdraw from the Gaza Strip.
